Getting horse to drink more

[wsmoak]

This is usually a winter thing for me, and I pour warm water over senior feed – basically rinsing the molasses off and end up with weak molasses tea plus wet mushy feed that I dump in a rubber pan. (I can’t just put the feed in the water bucket, he will sling it around to get the water out so he can get to the mush, making a huge mess.)

This time of year I make sure he has a bucket of cool water in his shelter so he doesn’t have to walk out in the heat to drink out of the warm stock tank.

I have to be careful with giving electrolytes because he doesn’t sweat.

[StormyDay]

• My mare is a bad drinker in the winter. She gets the bucket of watery alfalfa cubes as suggested before.
• Make sure the water is cold. No one likes lukewarm water and the smaller buckets quickly warm up
• I give 1-2 TBS salt in their grain at night on top of their access to a salt block
• Apple juice in a bucket is a lifesaver. Start with pure, then add slowly until you find how much you can water it down. I find you can go 50/50. They will suck the whole thing down in a few minutes. I’ve also thought of using those powdered apple cider drinks to put in tea.